Night
by Lioneh
Summary: 32/100: 'Night'. Quick breaths rattled his lungs in the deafening silence. All that lay before him was a shimmering pool of water, hardly bigger than just a puddle of rain. It was his own reflection. Angst. No pairings. No yaoi or cursing. Genesis oneshot


**Disclaimer: Anything related to Genesis Rhapsodos, Hollander or Final Fantasy VII belongs to Square Enix **

* * *

He stared.

Pale eyes wide in horror.

His face aghast.

Quick breaths rattled his lungs in the deafening silence. All that lay before him was a shimmering pool of water, hardly bigger than just a puddle of rain.

It was his own reflection.

The monster stared back. Overgrown incisors protruded out from an overbite, a hideous snarl forming into a smirk that was not his own.

Trembling, Genesis Rhapsodos slowly brought his hand up to his face.

The monstrous reflection followed, still snarling, still _mocking_ him. Sharp, ragged claws jutted out from mutated hands, clenching into a fist and back, glinting off moonlight shrouded by clouds.

Instinctively, the frightened SOLDIER tore his gaze away from the water's surface and forced himself to look at his own hand. A sharp breath caught in his throat.

He saw yet the same. His reflection wasn't lying.

Silently through the ripples of water, the monster hissed with its jaws open, twitching, head snapping side to side. Grey skin tinted with silvery moonlight covered the beast's body, gruesome muscles distorted themselves over tense limbs. With fiendish eyes and pointed tendrils coming from the creature's head, the monster turned to face Genesis once again, a silent laugh hissing through overgrown teeth.

The redhead stumbled backwards, feeling sick to the stomach. _This…wasn't…i-isn't me…no…_

"With your degrading, that is what you will become."

Spinning around, Genesis' pale, distressed face laid eyes on Hollander, the scientist who had promised to help.

"It's no surprise, considering what a useless failure you are." Hollander said nastily, forcing a dirty look on the sick SOLDIER.

Genesis took a step back, looking incredibly hurt as his vulnerable side got the better of him. Rage ignited in his eyes as the scientist laughed at him, mocked him, blamed him.

He couldn't take it anymore.

Genesis slowly unfurled his wing, feeling an immense pressure trying to flatten his feathers to his body. A sense of panic rushed through him as he tried in vain to take to the skies, his wing barely responding to the messages firing from his brain.

Hollander watched him snidely, smirking at the SOLDIER's fruitless attempts to fly.

Crying out in fear and frustration, Genesis chose to do the only thing he could - to run.

Racing past the scientist in a fury, all Genesis could do was to keep one foot pulsing forward after the other, feeling his feathers catching the air in vain.

A clammy sweat clung to his skin as he blindly ran forward.

Genesis didn't care.

He just _ran_.

He didn't know where he was, where he was going.

Everything was just…dark. Faded. _Gone_.

He heavy breathing turned to sharp, shallow breaths as he slowed his pace, feeling himself tripping over his own exhausted feet.

Staggering forward, Genesis dropped to his knees, burying his face into his hands. Phrases, words, thoughts, sentences, things people had said, things _he _had said all flooded his mind like a tidal wave of guilt, mocking him, confusing him, telling him _too much._

"_We're not monsters, you hear me?"_

"_Wings…symbolise freedom for-"_

"_It makes no difference. You will rot."_

"_Jenova was excavated from a two thousand year old rock layer. She's a monst-"_

"_Genesis, you were the failure of Project G-"_

"_My parents betrayed me. They had-" _

"_Shut up! I'm warning y-"_

"_We are…_monsters."

The words circled around in his mind, plaguing him with horrible feelings of distress, confusion, anger, jealousy, resentment. Whimpering to himself, Genesis curled into a tight ball, wishing _everything would just go away._

It didn't stop.

The voices got louder, the emotions intensified.

He cried out as he felt the final stages of degradation gripping his body, making him shudder in agony as he felt his body falling apart at the seams.

Everything.

He could feel _everything_.

His body changing, distorting, his sanity leaving him to nothing but a broken mess of thoughts and emotions.

The words, the phrases, the people's voices were so _overpowering_.

Everything hurt so _much._

"No!" Genesis cried, refusing to pry his eyelids open.

"Just SHUT UP!" He screamed, sobbing pathetically into his hands.

It faded.

Everything faded away.

Genesis dared to open his eyes a little, seeing actual _solid ground_ through his fingers. Removing his hands from his damp face, he found himself leaning against the wall of the abandoned mako mine of Banora, the dim light of a reading lamp from a desk beside him buzzing through the stagnant air. _Wait…what…?_

Sleeping.

He'd been asleep.

Having a nightmare.

Despite the flood of warm relief washing over his entire body, Genesis still felt frightened. Everything just seemed so intimidating, so overwhelming…

He clutched his shaking hands around his knees, drawing them close to his cold chest. Carefully extending his wing just a little, Genesis brushed the feather tips around himself in an attempt to block out the cool updraft coming from within the depths of the mine.

A hoarse cry of a monster echoed through the walls.

Genesis shifted about uncomfortably, images from his deeply troubled sleep crossing his mind. He tried to push them away.

But he couldn't.

He still saw the face of that completely degraded copy of himself, the distorted expression, the fury in its eyes. It bore no resemblance to him, none at all…yet he knew, he _just knew_ he'd be just like that if he never found a cure.

Lowering his head, Genesis found himself feeling like an abandoned child, a pathetic monster without a proper place to call home.

The SOLDIER bit his lower lip.

A small tear trickled down his pale, scared face.

"No…" Genesis mumbled, squeezing his eyes shut.

"No…no…no," he continued quietly, finding small sobs shaking his weak frame as he slowly began to rock himself, back and forth.

The small tears continued to stream from his eyes as he buried his head down into his lap, feeling his grey-streaked hair becoming damp from his cries.

He brought his silky wing closer around himself.

He wanted to block everything out, wanted it all to just _go away._

His body trembled through his distress, his shoulders shaking with every sob.

He was so alone, so scared…

* * *

After a little while, Genesis had leaned onto his right side and tried his best to snuggle into the feathers of his wing.

Maybe, just maybe he'd sleep again.

Without his problems, his fears, his distress coming back to haunt him.

So lucky was he as the tears dried from his cheeks.

Sleep embraced him…

…with a dream.

* * *

A/N: Awwh…poor Gen was having a horrible nightmare. -gets on a box a hugs him- D: I would imagine after all that trauma he'd probably be plagued with bad dreams, especially after all that happens up to that point in time. It's set somewhere during the four year gap when Zack and Cloud are being held captive…and Gen begins operating from Banora again. And by the way, he's sitting against the wall by that desk with his journal on it when you walk in after jumping down that hole in Banora…xD;

Also, if you were confused, the monster that Genesis sees as his reflection is one of those mako-humans that you fight in the Banora underground…I think they were remnants of Hollander's experiments on Genesis copies and the degrading process…o.o; I think so anyway.

Anyway, enough with my ramblings…I can't break out of my angst habit at the moment, especially with the abbreviated sentences. O.O; It's weird. Kind of a new thing I'm trying xD;

-shuts up-

Bai for now! x3;

- Lioneh the cheetion


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